In addition to regular professional dental checkups, daily oral hygiene is generally recognized as an effective preventative measure against the onset, development, and/or exacerbation of periodontal disease, gingivitis and/or tooth decay. Unfortunately, however, even the most meticulous individuals dedicated to thorough brushing and flossing practices often fail to reach, loosen and remove deep-gum and/or deep inter-dental food particulate, plaque or biofilm. Most individuals have professional dental cleanings biannually to remove tarter deposits.
For many years products have been devised to facilitate the simple home cleaning of teeth, although as yet a single device which is simple to use and cleans all surfaces of a tooth and/or the gingival or sub-gingival areas simultaneously is not available. The conventional toothbrush is widely utilized, although it requires a significant input of energy to be effective and, furthermore, a conventional toothbrush cannot adequately clean the inter-proximal areas of the teeth. Cleaning of the areas between teeth currently requires the use of floss, pick, or some such other additional device apart from a toothbrush.
Electric toothbrushes have achieved significant popularity and, although these reduce the energy input required to utilize a toothbrush, they are still inadequate to ensure proper inter-proximal tooth cleaning. Oral irrigators are known to clean the inter-proximal area between teeth. However, such devices have a single jet which must be directed at the precise inter-proximal area involved in order to remove debris. These water pump type cleaners are therefore typically only of significant value in connection with teeth having braces thereupon which often trap large particles of food. It will be appreciated that if both debris and plaque are to be removed from teeth, at present a combination of a number of devices must be used, which is extremely time consuming and inconvenient.
In addition, in order for such practices and devices to be effective, a high level of consumer compliance with techniques and/or instructions is required. The user-to-user variation in time, cleaning/treating formula, technique, etc., will affect the cleaning of the teeth.
The present invention may ameliorate one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages with existing oral hygiene apparatus and methods, or at least provides the market with an alternative technology that is advantageous over known technology, and also may be used to ameliorate a detrimental condition or to improve cosmetic appearance of the oral cavity. In addition, the invention provides diagnostic capabilities whereby devices according to the present invention collect samples of fluid from the oral cavity for analysis with respect to certain aspects as described herein below.